Cherington joins Blue Jays' front office

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays hired former Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington to be their vice president of baseball operations on Wednesday.

"Cherington will impact every aspect of baseball operations, with an emphasis on player development, and will work closely with Gil Kim, director, player development," the Blue Jays said in their announcement.

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays hired former Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington to be their vice president of baseball operations on Wednesday.

"Cherington will impact every aspect of baseball operations, with an emphasis on player development, and will work closely with Gil Kim, director, player development," the Blue Jays said in their announcement.

As Boston's GM, Cherington oversaw the Red Sox to a World Series championship in 2013, but left the organization last year after Dave Dombrowski was hired to be president of baseball operations.

Cherington spent one season as a scout for the Indians before joining the Red Sox in 1999, after which he held many positions, including area scout, coordinator of international scouting and director of player development. With the Indians, Cherington worked with current Blue Jays president and CEO Mark Shapiro.

Cherington will report to executive vice president of baseball operations and general manager Ross Atkins.

Red Sox manager John Farrell, who worked under Cherington in Boston from 2013-15, reflected on their days together.

"He was great in understanding what his vision was," Farrell said after Cherington's hiring Wednesday. "For those who worked most closely with him, he was always able to articulate what he wanted to see, not only from the organization, but the individual departments that would be an integral piece to that overall organization. From that standpoint, he was great."

Despite the fact the Red Sox are competing with the Blue Jays for a playoff spot, Farrell was happy for his former boss.

"You hear his name talked about with vacancies around the game and it's not a surprise," Farrell said. "He's got a pretty wide range of experiences as a front-office guy. And I think Toronto added a quality person and a guy with a tremendous amount of experience."